Supreme Court Holds that Reverse-Payment Settlements Are Not Immune from Antitrust Scrutiny

WASHINGTON, D.C. - (Mealey's) The U.S. Supreme Court on
June 17 ruled 5-3 that reverse-payment settlements of patent litigation between
the holder of a drug patent and potential generic manufacturers of the drug are
not necessarily immunized from an antitrust challenge, even if the
anti-competitive effects of the agreement fall within the scope of the
exclusionary potential of the patent, and that reverse-payment settlements should
be analyzed under the rule of reason (Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis,
Inc., et al., No. 12-416, U.S. Sup.; See March 2013) (lexis.com
subscribers may access Supreme Court briefs and the opinion for this case).